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Wild Turkey 101 (2007-2012) worth it?


clearmoon247
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I found a shop that has multiple 1.75L bottles of Wild Turkey 101 with a pre-LL laser etched date code on them at a price of $42.99. They also have Wild Turkey Rye 101 1L bottles for $38.99

 

With all that being said, is the WT101 a proper dusty and worth the investment or should I give the WT Rye101 a shot instead and pass on the older handles?

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15 minutes ago, clearmoon247 said:

I found a shop that has multiple 1.75L bottles of Wild Turkey 101 with a pre-LL laser etched date code on them at a price of $42.99. They also have Wild Turkey Rye 101 1L bottles for $38.99

 

With all that being said, is the WT101 a proper dusty and worth the investment or should I give the WT Rye101 a shot instead and pass on the older handles?

ASIDE - Please excuse the tone of this post - I've had scads of kids begging for candy before the thunderstorm hits (HEY!! WHY ISN'T IT HERE ALREADY DAMMIT?)  Excuse the aside; it is partially due to the (some would say) excessive amount of VOB 100 proof I consumed in order to deal with the interruptions.

 

THAT OUT OF THE WAY --

 

"The term "investment" is misplaced as all whiskey is created to be consumed.  If you are asking whether one or more of us detected a shift in profile of WT 101 or WT 101 Rye over the years, I'd say, YUP.  What's better?  Well, my experience tells me WT 101 B or R from, say, pre-2012 is "better" than stuff from, say, 2016 when WT seemed to have some year-to-year shifts in profile but is about the same as stuff available now.  PRICE, of course, has also shifted (mostly upward) during that time.

 

My bottom line on these is - the pre-LL $43 is high while the Rye is about what I see regularly.  But then, I drink every WT that enters my house and almost NEVER share it.  Except when fishing as my flask, for reasons beyond the scope of this post, has NEVER had anything but WT 101 bourbon in it even though I like OGD BIB better for daily drinking.  Other biases I have?  Well, I admit to liking the Small Batch Beam releases.  Hence, my palate might not match yours.

 

Maybe buy one of each (B and R) and taste them.  If you LIKE/LOVE them, buy more.  If not, walk away.

 

Hope this helps.

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1 hour ago, clearmoon247 said:

I found a shop that has multiple 1.75L bottles of Wild Turkey 101 with a pre-LL laser etched date code on them at a price of $42.99. They also have Wild Turkey Rye 101 1L bottles for $38.99

 

With all that being said, is the WT101 a proper dusty and worth the investment or should I give the WT Rye101 a shot instead and pass on the older handles?

I'm not sure that you'd find anyone say that is a dusty. I like that label better, but I wouldn't pay more for it than the current stuff.

As far as the 101 rye, it and the OF Rye are my go to every day rye drinkers.  If you enjoy rye, buy it. 

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I wouldn't call it dusty, but it may be your last chance to pick up one from this era. I have had a bit from that era and it was good but not significantly different or better than the current, but it is fun to compare. If you like WT 101 I would say grab one. At $42.99 for a 1.75 that is only $18.50 for a 750, which is much cheaper than I see 101 in my area. 

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5 hours ago, Soberiquet said:

I wouldn't call it dusty, but it may be your last chance to pick up one from this era. I have had a bit from that era and it was good but not significantly different or better than the current, but it is fun to compare. If you like WT 101 I would say grab one. At $42.99 for a 1.75 that is only $18.50 for a 750, which is much cheaper than I see 101 in my area. 

Agree.  In my post above, I said I thought $43 for older WT 101 bourbon was "high".  I was thinking 750s AND the current pricing of the 1L WT Rye.  My mistake.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did a SBS yesterday with a recent bottle of 101 and (what I believe is) a 2003 101 bottling, and the 2003 was significantly better. Compared favorably to a recent Binny's RRSiB as well.   WT blogger Rare Bird does tastings across all different Turkey Time Zones: https://rarebird101.com/ , and the general drift of his assessments is that the older the WT bottle, the better.   For example: https://rarebird101.com/2017/08/11/wild-turkey-101-2006/ If I were you I would definitely grab at least one handle and check it out.  Unless they've been bathed in sunlight... they're apt to be damn good.  As others have noted, WT Rye 101 is great stuff, and if that's a good price for your area, definitely grab a bottle... some day.

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On 10/31/2019 at 9:44 PM, clearmoon247 said:

I found a shop that has multiple 1.75L bottles of Wild Turkey 101 with a pre-LL laser etched date code on them at a price of $42.99. They also have Wild Turkey Rye 101 1L bottles for $38.99

 

With all that being said, is the WT101 a proper dusty and worth the investment or should I give the WT Rye101 a shot instead and pass on the older handles?

For comparison's sake, the VA ABC website has 1.75L bottles of WT101 listed at $51.99 and 1L of WT101 Rye at $46.29.  These are MSRP prices (or there abouts) so looks to me like you're getting a bargain.

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On 11/10/2019 at 6:40 PM, DCFan said:

For comparison's sake, the VA ABC website has 1.75L bottles of WT101 listed at $51.99 and 1L of WT101 Rye at $46.29.  These are MSRP prices (or there abouts) so looks to me like you're getting a bargain.

Getting a bargain always depends on what you are comparing it to. Bought two family-size KCs this week for $39.99 each. But that was the Phoenix Costco price--roughly equivalent to what my local Ohio merchant charges for a 750. 

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8 hours ago, Flyfish said:

Getting a bargain always depends on what you are comparing it to. Bought two family-size KCs this week for $39.99 each. But that was the Phoenix Costco price--roughly equivalent to what my local Ohio merchant charges for a 750. 

I didn't think this was such a difficult concept. You use MSRP as your baseline and anything above is gouging and anything below is a bargain.

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To me that's a good price and I would pick a couple up as drinkers, personally I think the current WT101 is better than the tail end of that era but it's really subjective. At the end of the day it's WT101, to me, it has a high floor for quality but I tend not to get bogged down with all the laser codes.

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5 hours ago, kevinbrink said:

To me that's a good price and I would pick a couple up as drinkers, personally I think the current WT101 is better than the tail end of that era but it's really subjective. At the end of the day it's WT101, to me, it has a high floor for quality but I tend not to get bogged down with all the laser codes.

Agree.  As I posted earlier here, once I realized that the OP's post was about a handle price, I amended my previous statement that it seemed high (for a 750 DUH!!) and said it was probably a really fair price for what it is.  I, too, find "bad" WT 101 from, say, late 2015 to be a deviation from the profile.  HOWEVER, I am currently doing price-comparisons on locally available 101 as I am about half-way through my currently opened bottle.

 

Laser codes?  My eyes are so bad (not really, but it makes a good story:D) that I can't find laser codes on FOOD ("Best Buy . . .") let alone on whiskey bottles which, best as I can tell AND on knowledge and belief, DOES NOT SPOIL!!

 

Rather, I open, sniff, and, if I don't heave, sip.  Repeat as necessary.

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